Demos-Nothing-To-Fear-But-Fear-Itself

1 Great Britain cultures

1 Great Britain cultures of those countries, rather than purely a reduced interest in or sympathy with internationalism. Here, more subjective questions of national identity come into play. One could argue that Scottish political identity, for example, is currently more associated with internationalism and progressive politics, whereas English political identity is more associated with exclusive nationalist sentiment. Certainly, unpicking the question of how national and British identities and political cultures, predisposition towards internationalism and Euroscepticism interact requires further investigation – it is not simply the case that those who define their identity in geographically narrower terms are more likely to be Eurosceptic. European identity Although the effects of national and British identifications differ, the effects of European identity are fairly straightforward. Out of the citizens of the 28 member states, Britons are the least likely to regard themselves as European in any sense, with nearly two-thirds of Britons identifying only with their nation, while less than 40 per cent of French citizens and 30 per cent of Germans feel the same way. 20 This lack of identification is matched by a similar lack of trust in the EU – only Greeks and Cypriots are less likely to ‘tend to trust’ in the EU than Britons, likely a reflection of the EU’s economic interventions in those countries. 21 According to Pew Global research conducted in spring 2016, of the ten major European countries surveyed, only respondents from Greece were more likely to favour the return of powers to national governments. 22 The role of trust in the EU and global governance in general will be further explored in the sections on social and political attitudes. Of course, the relationship between the EU as an institution and Europe as a cultural entity is complex. Not all European states are part of the EU, and attitudes towards Europe are not the same as attitudes towards the institutions of the EU. Despite the UK’s unique, well-documented lack of European identity, Britons do not dislike Europeans: 84 per cent of Britons across both the Remain and Leave camps

59 think it is vital to let European nationals living in Britain know that they are welcome to stay. 23 Nonetheless, identification with Europe or absence thereof closely related to people’s voting intention in the referendum. The British Social Attitudes Survey from before the campaigns started found that of those who describe themselves first and foremost as European rather than British (15 per cent of Britons), 92 per cent wanted to stay in the EU, whereas only 51 per cent of those who did not describe themselves as European first and foremost wanted to stay within the EU. 24 The demographic factors discussed earlier played a role here, too, with graduates and professionals being much more likely to identify as European in the first place. The politics of place A second important aspect of the referendum vote, besides demographics and identity, is geographical. Although the Brexit vote cannot be condensed into a single narrative, the individual-level demographic data thus far appear to support at least in part the thesis that Leave voters were those who had been ‘left behind’ – by globalisation, as a result of neglect by government or politicians, or as a result of geographic inequalities in wealth and opportunity across the UK. This observation is contextualised by Eurostat research, which in mid-2015 found that regional inequality in the UK is worse than any other country in Western Europe, significantly ahead of the next most regionally unequal country, Italy. 25 Overall, it appears that data on the geographical locations of Leave voters (and their own perceptions of these places) both bolster and refine the narrative of the ‘left behind’. However, in drawing conclusions regarding geography and the vote share of the two referendum campaigns, it is further worth noting that in every region and nation in the UK there was variation – in 62 per cent of the UK’s 395 electoral districts, the range of votes fell between 40 per cent and 60 per cent, evidence that the UK is not as wildly divided as has been suggested by some commentators. 26